BATON ROUGE – The Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana Foundation has announced its commitment of at least $2.1 million to meet the needs of communities across Louisiana as they respond to COVID-19.

Community Crisis and Disaster Response Grants

The Foundation has set up a grant fund of $2 million for nonprofits meeting the needs of Louisianians who have been affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. This can include immediate needs like food, clothing, shelter, paying utility bills and more. Grants can also be used to meet more long-term needs such as ongoing patient education and care navigation, economic recovery efforts and more.

Community Crisis and Disaster Response are up to $50,000 and grants are made as general operating support – which means nonprofits can be flexible in their approach to solving problems for their communities.

“Our goal is to give Louisiana’s nonprofit community, which is on the front lines of responding to this crisis, the tools and flexibility they need to keep working to support children and families,” says Michael Tipton, president of the Foundation, who noted that the Foundation is accepting applications immediately.

The full request for proposals, as well as the application for the grant program, are online at http://www.bcbslafoundation.org/disastergrants

Employee Support

The Blue Cross Foundation has also made a commitment of $100,000 to Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana’s Employees 1st Fund, which provides small grants to Blue Cross employees whose immediate families experience unexpected financial hardship as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. This can include a spouse or partner’s loss of income or medical expenses. The Employees 1st Fund is also supported by donations from Blue Cross employees.